Customer Stories and Helpful Advice About Ducks & Geese

Sisqo The Duck

Last year, I was being a normal 14-year-old, and riding my bike around the
neighborhood because I was bored. I was riding my bike, when I passed a
newly built house. I then I saw a red truck. I quickly passed up the truck,
and looked to the left to see a 10-year old boy, named Nick, and his little
yellow Pekin duck named Quackers. Me being an animal person, I had to
investigate. I asked this kid so many questions that he probably wanted to
leave, but I never saw a pet duck until then.

We quickly became friends, and I soon talked my dad into letting me have
a pekin duck, so Nick bought me a pekin duck from a place called Conways in
Indiana, and 2 more for him. I took her home to her cage and let her eat,
then we went out into the yard. She followed me like a shadow, and never
left my side.

I became very attached. She soon bonded with my sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog
or Miniature Collie) Riley more than me, but I loved her just the same. We
would occasionally go out on walks, Riley would follow me, and Sisqo would
follow Riley. She liked Riley a lot, he was about her size. When we walked,
everyone turned their head to see a Dog, a Duck, and a Teenager walking down
the street. We got some pretty funny looks from people's faces.

To make a long story short, from that point until she was about 1 month
old, Riley and Sisqo were best pals, Sisqo still liked me, but not nearly to
the extend she liked Riley. One day however, Nick invited me to go to his
Uncle Joe's house, where they have golf carts and stuff to ride in. We put
all our ducks (4 pekins, 1 being Sisqo, and my 2 brand new Cayugas) in the
chicken wire cage. I had fun with Nick until about 10:30, when we drove
home. It was totally silent in the car, something was bugging me, something
went wrong. I just had this weird, eerie feeling.

When we got home, I helped bring stuff inside, then I went back to the
backyard to check on the ducks. I was taken by surprise to see that my duck,
out of all the 4 pekins, was gone. I assumed she escaped. There was a slight
opening in the cage where we apparently didn't shut all the way, it was now a
rainy, cold night, and there were no duck tracks coming out of the cage. I
looked for her with Riley for 3 hours, until it was almost 2:00 in the
morning. Riley was acting sad, he would just lay down and not get up. He
didn't want to go very far into the surrounding woods. It was very dark and
my flashlight finally died. I headed for home. I prayed that she would be
back with the others in the cage the next day.

The next morning, I woke up, took a shower, and sped down the street on
my bike to see if Sisqo had returned. When I arrived, I was devastated to
find that now Quackers was missing! and there was no opening in the cage.
Riley soon burst ahead of me into the forest, his nose was working like
none other, until we came upon a big pile of white feathers, down, and blood.
That was what was left of Quackers. I knew this was Quackers because none
of the other ducks had any feathers yet. But where was my duck?

Riley soon found a trail of blood and feathers, we followed it, only to
reveal that Quackers put up a good fight. The feathers slowly disappeared,
signaling that Quackers was indeed dead. We went back to the cage, and
Nick's mom was outside, and said that Nick and his brother were crying, Riley
then ran over to the cage and looked for Sisqo again, no luck, then we all
looked down. COYOTE TRACKS. This was the work of a single coyote, if it was
more than one or two coyotes, they would've stolen all of the ducks.

Riley then put his tail down, and sat next to the cage and slept for the
rest of the afternoon, as if he knew what happened. And no, it wasn't Riley
who stole Sisqo, that's insane, besides he was inside all night and we have
no doggy door. And on top of that, Sisqo was just slightly taller than Riley.
I mourn the loss of Sisqo, but just think of Riley, he was pretty down, I
never knew dogs had what I thought were human feelings. The four remaining
looked for Quackers and Sisqo for the rest of the afternoon. Sisqo never did
show up, she must have been a victim of the coyote as well.

There's good news in this story, as the other 4 ducks are living healthy
and happy in our neighborhood pond. They are accompanied by 3 smaller
Pekins, and 2 Khaki Campbells, who we rescued from a lady who no longer
wanted them. Next year we plan on getting 12 more ducks from Metzer Farms to
start a duck pond. We are well up to the commitment, and are looking forward
to it greatly. I hope that you all learn from this story, and never leave
ducks unattended in a cage without a roof.